The recent oil well disaster in the Gulf Coast of Mexico and the oil disaster a little over 20 years ago in the Prince William Sound illustrate the huge economic and ecological impact such spills have on the regional areas as well as nationally. While such large oil spills have been relatively infrequent, given the rise of new industrial powers in Asia and the continuous needs of the leading economic powers, the world-wide global demand for oil is expected to increase sharply. While the current political atmosphere calls for reduction in oil usage and replacement of hydrocarbons as the primary fuel source, newer green technology is currently underdeveloped, and other fuels, such as natural gas, may be too costly to implement immediately. As such, oil companies continue to find new sources of oil, which includes developing deep water well sites.
Although large oil spills tend to draw the national media's attention, other sources of spills and leaks of potentially harmful materials into the nation's waterways can be just as disastrous to the environment and local economies. Materials can be released during normal transportation as a result of damage to the hulls of ships or tankers. Contaminants such as silt, debris or other pollutants can be released into bodies of water as a result of dredging operations or construction projects undertaken at or near such bodies of water. Industrial manufacturing and processing in factories also contribute to aquatic pollution through release of its industrial wastes. Finally, while most of the contamination sources listed above are man-made, natural disasters such as floods, storms, or mudslides contribute to polluting aquatic environments.
Regardless of the source of contamination, the medical, economical, and environmental consequences of such spills can be devastating. Other than prohibiting the type of activity that causes the spills, the primary method of handling such actions is through the use of timely containment and clean-up measures. Because many contaminates will initially remain floating in the water at the spill site for a limited time, delivery of containment devices rapidly to the area is imperative for proper clean-up, ensuring that currents do not disperse the spill site over a larger area. Once in the ocean currents, effectively cleaning the containment becomes difficult if not impossible. The typical containment systems utilize barriers or boom systems. Such systems are placed at or near the spill site and are specifically devised to isolate and limit the flow of contamination outside the affected area. Most boom systems contain a buoyant cylindrical section that rests at or near the surface of the water. Attached to the cylindrical section and extending into the water is a skirt, made of water-impervious material made of non-oil absorbent materials. These typical boom systems are somewhat effective at containing spills in calm waters. However, in rough seas or stormy weather, the configuration of the boom limits the effectiveness in containing the spills. Typically encountered in rough or stormy seas are continuous wave surges having large wave sizes. Large waves tend to push the contaminated water over and above the cylindrical section of the boom. Moreover, the continued wave action may act to reorient the cylindrical portion and the skirt of the boom, thereby reducing its effectiveness. Additionally, when rough water is anticipated, these booms have to be deflated, dismantled and demobilized, significantly adding to the cost of deployment and maintenance of these types of oil containment booms.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,731,452 and 7,407,341 teach a floating wall of interconnected barrier units which can be readily recognized by operators of vessels and others as a warning structure delineating a restricted area. The barrier units have a shape similar to Jersey barriers, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,362, U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,101, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,538, commonly used at construction sites or along roadways as dividers. The individual barrier units include a top wall, a bottom wall, opposed end walls, and opposed side walls interconnected to form a hollow interior which is partially or completely filled with a foam material. A ballast weight is secured to each barrier unit to maintain them in an upright position in the water. Cables, couplers and/or other connectors are employed to mount adjacent barriers end-to-end to form a barrier wall which can encircle a vessel or otherwise isolate an area within a seaport to provide security. While the device contains ballast for maintaining an upright position, unless the units are completely anchored to the sea bed, the ballast utilized can not prevent roll-over. Fastening to the sea bed is costly and may encounter the need for environmental impact studies prior to securing. Should the individual units topple, the device is constructed in such a manner that the original positioning of the units is not maintained, resulting in the device having a sideways or upside down configuration. Moreover, since each unit is interconnected together and cannot rotate independently from its neighboring unit, roll over of one unit effectively results in multiple units, or the entire wall, being rolled over as well.
The British Petroleum disaster in the Gulf of Mexico highlighted another shortcoming related to a quick containment response. In the very beginning of the disaster, obtaining enough oil booms to properly contain such a large spill was problematic; as either the materials were stored in locations too remote from the accident site to be immediately effective, or production of new booms was too slow as it took time for the factories to produce the large amount of material. Once the disaster had been cleaned up, any amount of unused materials that was produced requires costly storage and transporting options, and may not be helpful should a similar disaster occur in another area.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is an improved containment device that 1) resists roll over when placed in an aquatic environment, 2) maintains its original conformation should roll over occur, thereby minimizing any reduction in containment capability when placed in rough or stormy seas, 3) attaches to other units to form a variable-length barrier wall system, and 4) provides units within the system that are interconnected in a way which permits rotation independently from adjacent units, thereby maintaining positional integrity of the entire system even if one of the units succumbs to roll over.